How to Write a Bachelor's Capstone Paper

Many bachelor’s degree programs require the students to write a capstone paper during their final semester of school. This paper often determines the student’s chances of attending graduate school and is a lengthy and difficult paper to complete. Some colleges offer a capstone course that is designed to assist the student in completing this requirement. A capstone paper is a lengthy research paper that ties together the things the student learned throughout his college studies and is often called a thesis.

Choose a topic. The first step in writing a bachelor’s capstone paper is determining a topic that correlates well with the degree you pursued. Be sure that the topic chosen is broad enough to cover in the page requirement but narrow enough that you can explain it thoroughly.

Seek approval from your professor. Most professors require students to tell them their topics prior to beginning their papers.

Research the topic. Begin researching the issue and taking good, clear notes on the information.

Develop your thesis statement. Your thesis statement explains the main theme or point of your paper and is summarized into one sentence. The thesis statement is normally included in the introduction of the paper. It is important to develop your thesis statement early to ensure that the information you are using correlates and backs up this statement.

Separate the information. Most capstone papers contain three or four subsections. As you sort through your researched information, separate the information into the category in which it belongs.

Write the introduction. The introduction of a capstone paper should be very descriptive in explaining what this long paper is about, but it should not reveal too many details of the topic.

Write the body of the paper. A capstone paper must include well-documented factual information, but it must also contain some of your own thoughts and interpretations. You must document all interpretations to explain how you came to the conclusions contained in the paper.

Create the conclusion. A capstone paper should end with a very strong conclusion that ties together the thesis statement with the rest of the paper. It should never leave the reader hanging or wondering about a portion of the paper, but should instead leave the reader with a deep understanding of the subject.

Complete a works cited page. This is the page where you list all your references.

Proofread the paper. Before handing in this paper, proofread it several times to ensure that it is grammatically correct and that there are no misspellings or errors.